1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to the storage of information, and particularly to automated cartridge handling systems such as cartridge libraries which store cartridges or cassettes of magnetic tape.
2. Related Art and Other Considerations
In the early days of computers, information requiring storage could be transmitted from a computer to a tape drive, whereat the information was magnetically recorded on or read from a large reel of tape. Upon completion of an operation of recording on the tape, for example, the reel would be removed manually from the tape drive and mounted in a rack. Another reel from the rack could then be manually mounted, if necessary, in the drive for either an input (tape reading) or output (recording to tape) operation.
Eventually it became popular to enclose magnetic tape in a cartridge, the cartridge being considerably smaller than the traditional tape reels. While many persons are familiar with tape cartridges of a type which can be loaded into a xe2x80x9ctape deckxe2x80x9d for reproduction of audio information (e.g., music), it is not as commonly realized that similar cartridges, although of differing sizes, can be used to store such information as computer data. For years now magnetic tape cartridges have proven to be an efficient and effective medium for data storage, including but not limited to computer back-up.
Large computer systems have need to access numerous cartridges. To this end, automated cartridge handling systems or libraries for cartridges have been proposed for making the cartridges automatically available to the computer. Many of these automated libraries resemble juke boxes. Typically, prior art automated cartridge libraries have an array of storage positions for cartridges, one or more tape drives, and some type of automated changer or cartridge engagement/transport mechanism for picking or gripping a cartridge and moving the cartridge between a storage position and the tape drive.
Important to the automation of cartridge libraries as previously known has been the provision of the cartridge changer or cartridge engagement/transport mechanism for picking or gripping a cartridge and moving the cartridge between a storage position and the tape drive. Such rotobic mechanisms, often called a cartridge xe2x80x9cpickerxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cgripperxe2x80x9d, is typically mounted in a library frame in order to introduce and remove cartridges relative to one or more stationary drives. The stationary drive and the picker are mounted to the same basic frame structure of the library, but otherwise are structurally independent.
The following U.S. patents and patent applications, all commonly assigned herewith and incorporated herein by reference, disclose various configurations of automated cartridge libraries, as well as subcomponents thereof (including cartridge engagement/transport mechanisms, entry/exit ports, and storage racks for housing cartridges):
U.S. Pat. No. 4,984,106 to Herger et al., entitled xe2x80x9cCARTRIDGE LIBRARY SYSTEM AND METHOD OF OPERATION THEREOFxe2x80x9d.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,972,277 to Sills et al., entitled xe2x80x9cCARTRIDGE TRANSPORT ASSEMBLY AND METHOD OF OPERATION THEREOFxe2x80x9d.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,059,772 to Younglove, entitled xe2x80x9cREADING METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CARTRIDGE LIBRARYxe2x80x9d.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,103,986 to Marlowe, entitled xe2x80x9cCARTRIDGE RACKxe2x80x9d.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,237,467 and 5,416,653 to Marlowe, entitled xe2x80x9cCARTRIDGE HANDLING APPARATUS AND METHOD WITH MOTION-RESPONSIVE EJECTIONxe2x80x9d.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,498,116 to Woodruff et al., entitled xe2x80x9cENTRY-EXIT PORT FOR CARTRIDGE LIBRARYxe2x80x9d.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,487,579 to Woodruff et al., entitled xe2x80x9cPICKER MECHANISM FOR DATA CARTRIDGESxe2x80x9d.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,718,339 to Woodruff et al., entitled xe2x80x9cCARTRIDGE RACK AND LIBRARY FOR ENGAGING SAMExe2x80x9d.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,739,978, entitled xe2x80x9cCARTRIDGE HANDLING SYSTEM WITH MOVING I/O DRIVExe2x80x9d.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,008,964, entitled xe2x80x9cCARTRIDGE LIBRARY AND METHOD OF OPERATION THEREOFxe2x80x9d.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/970,205, entitled xe2x80x9cCARTRIDGE LIBRARY WITH CARTRIDGE LOADER MOUNTED ON MOVEABLE DRIVE ASSEMBLYxe2x80x9d.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/121,541, entitled xe2x80x9cCARTRIDGE LIBRARY AND METHOD OF OPERATIONxe2x80x9d.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,005,745 application Ser. No. 09/121,816, entitled xe2x80x9cCARTRIDGE LIBRARY WITH ENTRY/EXIT PORT AND METHOD OF OPERATION THEREOFxe2x80x9d.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/121,819, entitled xe2x80x9cCARTRIDGE LIBRARY AND METHOD OF OPERATIONxe2x80x9d.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/121,966, entitled xe2x80x9cCARTRIDGE MAGAZINE AND LIBRARY EMPLOYING SAMExe2x80x9d.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/121,817, entitled xe2x80x9cDRIVE CARRIER AND CARTRIDGE LIBRARY EMPLOYING SAMExe2x80x9d.
An automated cartridge library has an essentially rectangular library frame which includes a frame front wall and a frame back wall, and a library door provided on the frame front wall. A transport actuator and guide region is provided within the frame, the transport actuator and guide region including both a guideway along which a cartridge transport assembly reciprocates and an actuator which causes the cartridge transport assembly to rotate from a first transport position to a second transport position. The cartridge transport assembly has picker fingers for selectively engaging and disengaging a media cartridge. In the first transport position, the picker fingers are oriented toward the frame front wall, while in the second transport position the picker fingers are oriented toward the frame back wall.
A cartridge magazine cavity is defined in the library frame between the frame front wall and the transport actuator and guide region. The cartridge magazine cavity adapted to receive two cartridge magazines. The cartridge magazines each accommodate plural media cartridges. The cartridge magazines are insertable into the cartridge magazine cavity when the library door is opened so that a reference surface of the cartridges face the transport actuator and guide region.
A drive region is situated in the library frame between the frame back wall and the transport actuator and guide region. The drive region includes at least one drive for performing at least one of recording and reproducing operations with respect to media in a media cartridge loaded into the drive. The drive region preferably comprises four drives.
A cartridge entry/exit port is mounted in the frame between the frame front wall and the transport actuator and guide region. An auxiliary cartridge magazine is situated between the frame back wall and the transport actuator and guide region.
The guideway along which the cartridge transport assembly reciprocates is a helically threaded shaft that extends in a direction parallel to the frame front wall and the frame back wall. The actuator is a shaft of polygonal cross section which, when rotated about a polygonal shaft axis, causes the cartridge transport assembly to rotate between its first transport position and its second transport position. In the illustrated embodiment the shaft of polygonal cross section preferably has a hexagonal cross section.